So much for being a “small” issue. Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are jumping in to investigate the bomb-making materials found in a George Mason University dorm room.
As we reported, three students were arrested last week — despite the public only being informed yesterday, via court documents and not GMU. One was arrested for possession of bomb-making materials, the other two for alcohol and drug related charges. AP reported that, “police found a leafy green substance, match books, shaved match heads, a mortar and pedestal, lighter fluid, hand sanitizer candles and a PVC pipe.”
Capt. Brian Cozby, an official from George Mason University’s Department of Police and Public Safety, told Fox News that”these individuals aren’t linked to something else,” and “[t]here was no threat ever to that building or to the university as a whole.”
Yet, the Department and GMU are refusing to release their names.
If the threat was so minor, why not release the names like any other arrest?
Cosby said, “If they are connected to something else, we don’t want the names out there because those people could stop what they’re doing and go someplace else.”
The obvious contradiction in his statements has left many in the Northern Virginia community unsettled. This story made national news yesterday, yet neither the administration nor the university’s president have released a statement on the events. Now that the federal government is involved, parents are demanding answers on social media.
One mother said she was “very disappointed that the university did not inform students or parents about this… We still have not receive[d] any communication from GMU as to reassure us that our children are safe.”
With the attacks in Brussels and more reports of radical activity in the Northern Virginia area — including a high schooler being arrested for recruiting another teen to join ISIS in Syria — the community would like to hear more from GMU about the details. So far, only a very short email from the campus police department with little information was sent to students.
As you can see from GMU’s public Facebook feed, students and parents aren’t satisfied:
